The questions I have about all this are:
1. Arguably, the single most valuable feature of "Find My Phone" is the near instantaneous remote data wipe it offers. All the "spy on the criminal and catch them" may make for a few interesting stories, but I think they would be the exception, not the rule. I've actually had a cellphone, and a computer burglarized in separate incidents. I hold out slim hope for these sorts of incidences ever seeing the return of the hardware even under the best of circumstances, but I would really like to feel that I could use my computing devices on my most important personal data, and not have that data at risk if the device is stolen.
Apple provides hardware level encryption on all it's iOS devices that allow for the near instantaneous wipe. From what I saw when I was looking into it, enabling disk encryption on Android involves all sorts of performance hits -- such as 10 - 15% reduced battery life, along with added lag and choppiness. I decided to pass on encrypting my Nexus devices. Someone correct me if I'm wrong here.
2. I haven't looked into this at all, but something like Cerberus seems to offer a disturbing level of invasion of privacy available to pretty much anyone. If the app isn't fairly easily delectable and defeat-able by criminals ... how about for everyone else? Will anyone who buys a used Android device need to be concerned that the the previous owner - or anyone else who might have installed this sort of app on the device - might be spying on them at will?
